Largest U.S. IPOs of the first quarter

According to Renaissance Capital, the U.S. initial public offering market had the most first-quarter activity since 2000, with 64 firms raising a total of $10.6 billion. First-quarter activity in 2013 had 31 deals raising $7.6 billion total.

In terms of size, Santander Consumer USA was the largest U.S. deal of the quarter ($1.8 billion), followed by Rice Energy ($924 million) and EP Energy ($704 million).

Renaissance noted that the top 10 IPOs by deal size returned an average of 10%, below the average of all deals (25.3%). Oil and gas driller RSP Permian had the highest return at 48.2%, while helicopter service provider CHC Group had a -26.1% return from its IPO.

Not all companies looking to go public are feeling so bold about their prospects. Virtu Financial, a high-frequency trading firm, disclosed in its prospectus that it lost money on just one day in nearly five years, an achievement that not even Goldman Sachs can claim. But it has postponed its coming IPO. until at least later this month as it waits for the furor stirred up by Michael Lewis’s latest book, “Flash Boys,” to quiet down, according to people briefed on the matter.